Inspiration

Inspiration is one of those things in life that is as wonderful to give as to receive.  It seems I've been surrounded by inspiration lately and would like to share some of these stories.

Our flying community is still a small one...you can show up anywhere there are pilots, announce that you are one of them and like magic you are instant friends.  This happens online too, and I now have flying friends around the world I haven't met in person (yet!).  One of these paragliding girls has been reading my blog and supporting my efforts to develop and grow my business.  She has impeccable timing, sending along a message that she "tweeted" about me or posted a link on Facebook just when I'm having a moment of self-doubt.  She recently wrote and said that through my blog postings I inspired her to follow her own big paragliding dream...to just go for it!  I can't even begin to tell you how amazing it felt to be the one inspiring someone, when I have so many people I look up to myself, including her.

I've also begun paragliding coaching, which is where I work with pilots who are newly signed off that would like some one-on-one lessons on developing their skills.  Unfortunately in our little flying community there tends to be animosity between the different instructors, and just like in high school people end up in little 'cliques' hanging out only with the school they learned with.  One reason I decided to coach signed off pilots is so I can help break that barrier and encourage everyone to fly together.  When I taught my first course on how competitions work, I was really happy to see pilots from different schools and surrounding cities too.  I had 3 pilots who learned from separate instructors approach me afterwards about coaching, and am working with one of them now.

This particular student's goals were to improve on a variety of skills and be able to fly confidently in the Canadian Nationals in August.  We've been working together for 4 or 5 sessions and last month he went to his first small competition...and finished second!  I was so excited when I heard about it, more excited than if I had won myself!  We had a session shortly after that and he met another of his goals (a small xc at our local site) and when I went to pick him up I was bursting with pride again.  I see why people get into instructing, and hope to keep doing it for a long time.

My list of people who inspire me grows daily, and through their support I feel I can accomplish anything!  I'm incredibly lucky that my boss at my part-time job totally supports me and calls me on rainy days if they need someone to cover a shift (she knows me so well already!).  I have mentors in my everyday life who have skills in sales, marketing and design who help me with the business side of things.

Each and every pilot has something they can teach others, no matter if it's their first flight or they have been flying for twenty years.  You all rock :)